Pilots crunch: Airbus all set to establish Singapore Academy

Bloomberg

Airbus Group SE is setting up its second academy to train pilots in Asia, where a rash of startup airlines and new aircraft coming in is causing a surge in demand for captains and first officers.
Airbus is opening the center in Singapore in partnership with Singapore Airlines Ltd. The facility — with eight simulators — will add to the three the European planemaker has already set up in Toulouse in France, Miami and Beijing. The center will be able to offer training courses for as many as 10,000 pilots, according to
Airbus.
Two decades of economic growth in the region have spawned a dozen new airlines across Asia, which Airbus and Boeing Co. both forecast will become the world’s largest travel and aerospace market in two decades. Airlines in Asia Pacific will need 226,000 new pilots by 2034, making up 41 percent of the global figure, according to Boeing’s latest forecast.
“Asia is moving towards a severe pilot shortage. There is a huge demand,” said Mark D. Martin, a Dubai-based consultant to the airline industry.
“Rapid steps will have to be taken immediately to meet the requirements.”
Asia’s travel boom is leaving several airlines desperately short of pilots. It is creating a room to hire increased number of pilots in the coming years
According to well-placed reports and surveys, this region is transporting nearly 100 million new passengers every year, as per Sherry Carbary, vice president of flight services for Boeing.
Led by Asia, the global number of air travellers is expected to double to nearly 7 billion by 2034, according to the International Air Transport Association (IATA).
Company officials said that the Airbus expects to have some 50 instructors and 25 support staff at its Singapore center, which is strategically set up near the Seletar airport. however, the officials made it clear that this
facility is only for airline pilots and not for students with
no experience wanting to
become pilots.
Airbus also provides training service agreements with airlines, which could include providing advice and training programs designed by the planemaker.
The company has inked these agreements with such carriers as Indonesia’s Lion Air and Vietjet in Vietnam.
Chicago-based Boeing also has a training center in Singapore, a key regional hub for the aerospace industry.
The US planemaker has other facilities in Shanghai, and Incheon and Gimpo in South Korea, as well as Brisbane and Melbourne in Australia.
Airbus Group SE is a European multinational aerospace and defence corporation. Headquartered in Leiden, Netherlands, the group consists of the three business divisions namely Airbus, Airbus Defence and Space, and Airbus Helicopters.